Use of information and communications technology by teachers and students in biomedical laboratory science educations in the Nordic countries

Seventeen degree programmes of Biomedical Laboratory Science (BLS) in all Nordic countries collaborate in BioNord under NordPlus. For some years, BioNord focused on the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the biomedical laboratory science education. The purpose of the study was to explore the use of ICT among teachers and students within the biomedical laboratory science studies in the countries collaborating in the NordPlus program, in the Nordic countries. The electronic questionnaire was sent by e-mail to 142 students and 43 teachers in all Biomedical Laboratory Science Programmes in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The data were collected in spring 2016. The questionnaire respondent rate for students was 27.5% and for teachers 51.2%. For communication, teachers mostly used Skype (90.5%) and students used Facebook (94.7%). For collaboration students (68.4%) and teachers (42.9%) used mostly Google Docs. Teachers mostly used YouTube Links (71.4%), E-books (47.6%) and Demo-videos/tutorials (47.6%) as learning tools, and students used mostly YouTube links (81.6%) and E-books (50.0%). Students expected guidance in the use of ICT programs as well as peer support. In the future, teachers would like to use more diverse types of tools to support learning. The focus was on virtual learning environments where students can be more active and use tools that support regular and prompt possibilities for feedback and interactive discussions. Students and teachers need support to learn how to use ICT tools in education to improve learning and learning outcomes.